@Island_Martha@jon@moritzkraehe I know this very well (also wasn't it until 1991?).
What I don't understand is why would they sever rail links between each other after restoring independence. Especially since there still was a rail connection between Tallinn and St. Petersburg at least (and iirc there was one between Riga and Moscow too).
"Because independence" is not an answer to "why did they cancel rail connection between Tallinn and Riga, while trains connecting Russia with both of them continued to run", and that's why I was surprised.
@Island_Martha@moritzkraehe@jon I know that the buses are doing really well. I know that rail connections have been spotty. I know what Rail Baltica is for. What I didn't know was that there was a brand new railroad connecting Tallinn to Riga via Pärnu, opened in 70s/80s, and then closed in 1992.
I was very curious why would anybody close such a railroad offering direct and fast connection between Tallinn and Riga (especially in 1992 when the population of these cities was much larger than it is now). But since the only answer seems to be "because they finally threw the Soviet occupiers out" (which by itself has nothing to do with intra-baltic connections), this conversation is clearly pointless.
@jon@Island_Martha@moritzkraehe tried to find some information on the speed online, and apparently it wasn't fully electrified (parts of it were, and the work continued until 1991 but by 1991 it only got electrified from Riga to Skulte (and probably from Rujiena to Tallinn, or to Pärnu? Difficult to find out)).
So the direct trains between Riga and Tallinn were all DMUs (with some electrified parts of the route apparently also served by typical "ER2" EMUs).
According to this https://forum.tr.ru/read.php?15,1051241,page=all , in 1983 (two years after Rujiena got connected to Pärnu by that new railroad) the DMU took 6:24 (departing Tallinn 16:23, arriving Riga 22:47), which is not even that bad, and would probably get much better once electrification would be finished. Apparently it was quite a decent track. Tallinn to Riga via Valga took much longer, so that one was served by a night train.
Still not sure why they cancelled the passenger train. But according to what I've found (which might not be true), independent Latvia and Estonia didn't maintain the tracks at all, so by mid-90s they fell into disrepair, with max allowed speed for remaining cargo traffic limited by 60-80km/h. And then some years later some flood or something made a part of the (unmaintained) line unusable, and by then, with only a little cargo traffic on it, they decided that it's easier to finally close and dismantle it than to repair it.
we were originally supposed to take a direct ICE to Basel a bit later from here, arriving an hour earlier; and now we got this instead (@ S 7 ➜ Berlin Hbf (S-Bahn)) #NowTräwellinghttps://traewelling.de/status/2658312
Local trains from Fulda to Frankfurt: take 1:12.
This ICE, according to schedule: 1:39... and yet it's still late!
(Also regional trains take a reasonable route via Salmünster and Hanau, but this ICE, despite not having any intermediate stops, was going via Gemünden am Main.)
Looks like we'll miss our connecting train and won't get to Basel "in time" (which is already full one hour later than planned arrival was before we got DBed)...
And now this ICE, the express train with highest priority over everything else, is just standing still at Aschaffenburg, waiting for who knows what, even though even passing through Aschaffenburg doesn't make any sense for this route (non-stop stretch from Fulda to Frankfurt)...
@jon it is projected to have 10 minute delay even despite the generous schedule (it also only sped up above 100km/h on one short stretch, and often was only doing 50km/h).
But what I don't understand is that regional trains between Fulda and Hanau still seem to run? And it's not like Berlin S-Bahn; the track they take should be compatible with ICEs?